WASHINGTON – In a move that risks reopening deep fissures in relations with Pakistan, the Obama administration will designate the deadliest Pakistani-based insurgent group as a foreign terrorist organization, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told Congress on Friday.
The decision to designate the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied extremist organization based on Pakistan's side of the mountainous border with Afghanistan, was made under pressure from Congress and avoids Republican election-year criticism that the administration is too accommodating toward Pakistan.
But it also could open the way, some analysts warned, to the U.S. eventually designating Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism because of the alleged close ties between the Haqqanis and Pakistan's top intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI. Such a move, which senior State Department officials stressed is not being considered, could jeopardize Pakistan's cooperation with the Obama administration's goal of withdrawing all U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
"This is targeted specifically at the Haqqani network. It is not targeted in any way at any organ of the Pakistani government," said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition that there be no further identification.
The Haqqani network, based in the main town in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal agency, was an American ally during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and recipient of U.S. aid funneled to it by the ISI. Its leader, Jallaludin Haqqani, became a minister in the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until the 2001 U.S. strike.
In recent years, however, it has been blamed for some of the most spectacular attacks in Afghanistan, including assaults on the U.S. and Indian embassies, and U.S. military officials have tried to persuade Pakistan to take action against it. Testifying before a Senate committee in September 2011, retired Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the Haqqani network "a veritable arm" of Pakistan's ISI. The ISI denied the allegations.
The Pentagon on Friday welcomed Clinton's announcement.
"The Haqqani network represents a significant threat to U.S. national security, and we will continue our aggressive military action against this threat," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
The decision follows extensive debate within the administration over whether the designation would be counterproductive, angering Pakistan just as bilateral relations are beginning to recover after U.S-Pakistan ties reached their chilliest point ever, propelled by the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden and a November 2011 U.S. assault on a border outpost that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Some U.S. officials also opposed the decision for fear it would endanger efforts to win the release of Bowe Robert Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who has been held by the Haqqanis since June 2009.
Clinton's hand was forced, however, by legislation that set a deadline for the administration to designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization or explain why it didn't meet the criteria. President Barack Obama signed the deadline into law last month, giving Clinton until Sunday to respond.
The new designation will freeze the group's assets, complicate its regional fundraising operations and push U.S. allies to follow suit with their own measures, U.S. officials said.
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The decision to designate the Haqqani network, a Taliban-allied extremist organization based on Pakistan's side of the mountainous border with Afghanistan, was made under pressure from Congress and avoids Republican election-year criticism that the administration is too accommodating toward Pakistan.
But it also could open the way, some analysts warned, to the U.S. eventually designating Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism because of the alleged close ties between the Haqqanis and Pakistan's top intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, or ISI. Such a move, which senior State Department officials stressed is not being considered, could jeopardize Pakistan's cooperation with the Obama administration's goal of withdrawing all U.S. combat forces from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.
"This is targeted specifically at the Haqqani network. It is not targeted in any way at any organ of the Pakistani government," said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition that there be no further identification.
The Haqqani network, based in the main town in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal agency, was an American ally during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and recipient of U.S. aid funneled to it by the ISI. Its leader, Jallaludin Haqqani, became a minister in the Taliban government that ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until the 2001 U.S. strike.
In recent years, however, it has been blamed for some of the most spectacular attacks in Afghanistan, including assaults on the U.S. and Indian embassies, and U.S. military officials have tried to persuade Pakistan to take action against it. Testifying before a Senate committee in September 2011, retired Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called the Haqqani network "a veritable arm" of Pakistan's ISI. The ISI denied the allegations.
The Pentagon on Friday welcomed Clinton's announcement.
"The Haqqani network represents a significant threat to U.S. national security, and we will continue our aggressive military action against this threat," Pentagon spokesman George Little said.
The decision follows extensive debate within the administration over whether the designation would be counterproductive, angering Pakistan just as bilateral relations are beginning to recover after U.S-Pakistan ties reached their chilliest point ever, propelled by the May 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden and a November 2011 U.S. assault on a border outpost that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Some U.S. officials also opposed the decision for fear it would endanger efforts to win the release of Bowe Robert Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who has been held by the Haqqanis since June 2009.
Clinton's hand was forced, however, by legislation that set a deadline for the administration to designate the group as a foreign terrorist organization or explain why it didn't meet the criteria. President Barack Obama signed the deadline into law last month, giving Clinton until Sunday to respond.
The new designation will freeze the group's assets, complicate its regional fundraising operations and push U.S. allies to follow suit with their own measures, U.S. officials said.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Order ReprintWhat You Should Know About Comments on Sacbee.com
Sacbee.com is happy to provide a forum for reader interaction, discussion, feedback and reaction to our stories. However, we reserve the right to delete inappropriate comments or ban users who can't play nice. (See our full terms of service here.)
Here are some rules of the road:
• Keep your comments civil. Don't insult one another or the subjects of our articles. If you think a comment violates our guidelines click the "Report Abuse" link to notify the moderators. Responding to the comment will only encourage bad behavior.
• Don't use profanities, vulgarities or hate speech. This is a general interest news site. Sometimes, there are children present. Don't say anything in a way you wouldn't want your own child to hear.
• Do not attack other users; focus your comments on issues, not individuals.
• Stay on topic. Only post comments relevant to the article at hand.
• Do not copy and paste outside material into the comment box.
• Don't repeat the same comment over and over. We heard you the first time.
• Do not use the commenting system for advertising. That's spam and it isn't allowed.
• Don't use all capital letters. That's akin to yelling and not appreciated by the audience.
• Don't flag other users' comments just because you don't agree with their point of view. Please only flag comments that violate these guidelines.
You should also know that The Sacramento Bee does not screen comments before they are posted. You are more likely to see inappropriate comments before our staff does, so we ask that you click the "Report Abuse" link to submit those comments for moderator review. You also may notify us via email at [email protected]. Note the headline on which the comment is made and tell us the profile name of the user who made the comment. Remember, comment moderation is subjective. You may find some material objectionable that we won't and vice versa.
If you submit a comment, the user name of your account will appear along with it. Users cannot remove their own comments once they have submitted them.